A commonly discussed health problem nowadays is that of sexually transmitted diseases. This problem is not only the subject of general anxiety but is also discussed within various public bodies, for example the WHO (World Health Organization), as one of the really major, international health problems with which the international community is faced within the immediate future. Enormous sums are being spent on finding medicines which are effective against, for example, HIV and AIDS. But other diseases also, even if not with as drastic a progression, cost society billions of Kronor each year in healthcare and medicine costs. These diseases include, to quote just a few examples, condyloma, gonorrhea and syphilis. The diseases are both of the viral type and of the bacterial type. In terms of bacterial diseases, it can also be stated that an ever increasing number of resistant and multiresistant strains of bacteria are developing, creating major problems for healthcare.
An increased use of condoms in intercourse has been regarded as a way of preventing increased spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Various voluntary, governmental and intergovernmental organizations are working very hard on informing and disseminating knowledge on how sexually transmitted diseases are spread and how spreading can be prevented by the use of a condom.
Early condoms consisted of parts of the intestine of suitable animals, which could be washed and reused. The main object of older condoms was to prevent conception. A modern condom can be described as a rubber sheath which is slipped, or rolled, onto the man's erect sexual organ. As a result of the rubber being stretched when applied to the man's sexual organ, a force is generated which presses the condom against the sexual organ. Through interaction with friction forces, the condom thus remains relatively securely fixed on the sexual organ during intercourse. When the man's sexual organ, after intercourse, reduces in size, the condom is easy to remove.
For modern condoms, too, the main object is, of course, to prevent conception. However, the condom has become increasingly passed over as a contraceptive now that other types have come into being, for example the pill, mini-pill and day-after pill. Its capacity to prevent transmission of infection has thus gained increasingly in importance. The transmission of infection is essentially averted by preventing an exchange of body fluids between the man and woman during intercourse, this by enclosing the man's sexual organ in a rubber sheath.
However, the use of a condom suffers from a number of problems. To prevent the condom from rupturing during intercourse, owing to friction forces between for example, condom and walls of the vagina, the condom wall must have a certain thickness. Moreover, the condom must be stretched over essentially the whole of the man's sexual organ if it is not to risk slipping off during intercourse. This impairs the sexual experience for the man and is a feature which causes many people to stop using a condom, with an increased risk of infection by sexually transmitted diseases.
As a result of the condom being stretched over the whole of the sexual organ, it is also occasionally subjected to relatively high friction forces at the moment of penetration, for example, or during intercourse, when the side of the man's sexual organ rubs against the walls of the vagina. If the condom has not then been made sufficiently strong, it is at risk of rupturing, which can happen essentially like a balloon owing to the rubber having been stretched and the condom thus losing its preventive and protective capacity.
Another drawback with condoms according to the prior art is that if the man lingers in the woman's vagina after intercourse, or if the man's sexual organ is not fully erect throughout intercourse, the condom is at risk of sliding off when the tension forces in the rubber cease as a result of the reduced size of the sexual organ. This increases, of course, the risks of exchange of body fluids and hence conception or spreading of sexually transmitted diseases.
Also of note is the fact that if infection can be prevented from occurring in the one direction, for example it is difficult or impossible for a woman to infect a man, then the spread of sexual diseases will substantially decrease. This can be especially important in situations in which men come into contact with women who regularly have sexual relations with a large number of men, for example in a brothel operation. Here it is especially important for the man to protect himself against sexually transmitted diseases.